In Today's Boc Office, THV Film Critic Jonathan Nettles tells us about the lessons learned from the SciFi flick, Chronicle.
#1. "With great "found footage" comes great responsibility." - Jonathan Nettles
"Found footage" films (the first-person style i.e. shot from a cell phone or camcorder by a film's character) are cheap to make and off a change of pace from film styles. Many are just shaky messes that leave the audience with a sick feeling in their stomach. The makers of Chronicle were very careful and kept the shakiness to a minimum for most of the films. In fact, the film about three teens who find a mysterious object in a cave that gives that telekinetic powers turns the camera into a fourth character. It starts off with Andrew who buys a camera to document his life and his shooting goes from someone who looks like they just b bought a camera to by the end of the film, someone who knows how to actually frame a good shot. Most of the film is told from his camera but other cameras are introduced in the form of police dash cams, news cameras, and phone cameras to give the bigger scope of the action sequences.
#2. "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." - Yoda
The main character, Andrew, has a lot of fears in his life (an abusive father, sick mother, bullies at school) and they're all a source of anger for him. When he gets this power, you see the seeds of hate and evil inside of him (but like Anakin Skywalker, there's also good) which all leads to his personal suffering and inflicting suffering on others who deserve it and many that do not.
#3. "With great power, comes great responsibility." - Ben Parker
The superhero mantra, for more see lesson #2.
#4. Don't pick on nobody because he might come across a mysterious object in a cave that gives him superpowers and he might come back and beat you up with his mind.
Chronicle was a pretty good sci-fi flick. The theater was full of various age groups and they seemed to enjoy it. I took my 11-year old and he said it was the best movie he'd ever seen in his entire life and would give it 11 stars out of 11. Granted, he hasn't seen the great films yet but his opinion still matters. I give it 8 stars out of 11.
Also this week, Danielle Radcliffe breaks away from the Harry Potter franchise in a horror film about a young lawyer who travels to a remote village where he discovers that the vengeful ghost of The Lady in Black is terrorizing the locals. The Big Miracle is about a reported and a Greenpeace volunteer on a campaign to save a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.